Three Games, three eviction stories. In September 2009 Planning Theory and Practice Magazine published, in its Interface section, three articles on displacement caused by three different mega-events, the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, the 2012 Summer Olympics in London and the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. The publication is attached.

This paper attempts to identify and clarify two important issues: how should we estimate the costs and benefits of major events; and the relevance of the experience of other cities’ Commonwealth and Olympic games experiences.

Pan American Games. Rio 2007.

'Game Plan' a joint Department of Culture, Media and Sport and Strategy Unit Report published in December 2002 which examined policy on Sport while the government was thinking about bidding for the Olympics in 2012. It was signed off by Tony Blair who wrote the foreword.

Two presidents, two prime ministers and a monarch cavorted in front of the unelected, unaccountable members of the IOC begging to be allowed to spend billions on their three week circus. In the end it was Rio, the poorest of the four cities but the one which had promised to spend the most with a budget of $14.4bn (£9.90bn) for construction and $2.8bn (£1.92bn) for operating costs - all of which will be underwritten by the government, that was rolled over. That may well not be the end of it. In 2007 Brazil’s Pan American Games was four times over budget, just like London’s Olympic budget. Similar concerns exist about a likely overspend on Brazil's hosting of the 2014 World Cup. Even a Brazilian sports paper, Lance, has said the 2014 bid was a confidence trick and the money should have gone on health and education.

Matthew J. Burbank, Gregory Andranovich, Charles H. Heying,
Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2001, ISBN: 978-1-55587-991-4, pb